Times
of India: Chandigarh: Tuesday, 12 August 2014.
The Punjab
and Haryana high court on Monday stayed the construction work on 149-kanal
prime land of Begowal nagar panchayat, allegedly carried out by former
president of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), Bibi Jagir Kaur.
The high
court passed the orders after hearing a petition filed by George Subh of
Begowal nagar panchayat.
Demanding a
CBI probe into the alleged multi-crore land scam, the petitioner alleged that
Bibi Jagir Kaur unlawfully encroached upon 149 kanal and 5 marla (around 18-20
acre) of prime land, with a market value of over Rs 100 crore, belonging to nagar
panchayat, Begowal, in Kapurthala district.
A part of the
land was being utilized to run Sant Prem Singh Khalsa High School, Begowal,
while the remaining portion was being used by Bibi for agricultural purposes.
Jagir Kaur allegedly raised a 1km-long 6-feet high boundary wall around the
land.
On August 8,
2009, the nagar panchayat had issued a notice to stop construction, but Bibi
Jagir Kaur, her daughter and son-in-law continued with the construction work.
The
petitioner further informed the HC that several local people had also
approached authorities against the illegal construction but to no avail, due to
the influence wielded by Bibi Jagir Kaur. Even Punjab Lokpal has not taken any
action on the matter despite a complaint, he said.
The petitioner
also placed on record information received through RTI Act, according to which
there is no lease or contract for the said land between Bibi Jagir Kaur and the
state government.
.JPG)
.JPG)
